The two dreaded Rs: Retcon and Reboot
by shanejayell
Summary: Hearing about the upcoming reboot, a group of heroines get together and gripe.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters from any DC Comics, I'm only borrowing them for awhile. This story reflects on news reports at comics websites that DC Comics plans to reboot their entire line of comics, if you haven't heard this might be considered a spoiler.

The two dreaded R's: Retcon and Reboot

The bar was a unusual one, chosen by Zinda Blake, the blond heroine known as Lady Blackhawk. They met in a different place every few weeks, to trade stories and talk about any troubles they might be having. Of course this time was more urgent, the whole group called together due to what seemed like bad news.

"We're being rebooted AGAIN?" Power Girl yelped, the blond haired woman looking at her circle of friends in disbelief. Dressed in her usual white bodysuit and red cape she drew the eye, but seemed to pay no attention to it. Then again, the place seemed to be packed with just women...

"Yeah, that's the rumor I'm hearing." Zatanna took a drink of her beer then the black haired woman in a stage magician's outfit added, "The wave will hit us in September."

"Well that sucks," Black Canary noted, frowning as the blond sat back crossly. She was back in her old outfit of a black swimsuit and fishnet stockings, much like the ones Zatanna wore.

Power Girl drank some of her own beer as the woman known as Karen Starr muttered, "You don't know the half of it."

No one talked about it, but Power Girl had been caught up in the last two major reboots, and it hadn't gone well for her. In the first great Crisis, Power Girl's history had been erased, and in the years after had found her background shifting uncontrollably. She went from being a alien to a magical princess, her powers changed and she went from being a tough lady to being a absolute bitch. Thankfully the attack by Superboy-Prime a few years back had restored her original history, though that wasn't without repercusions too.

"Drink up, everybody," Zinda Blake ordered, the heroine known as Lady Blackhawk getting a fresh pitcher of beer from the bar. These ladies night out events had happened when she challenged Huntress to out drink her, and had come to include a lot of heroines. She looked pretty hot in a leather top and matching pants, and had already told off one woman who objected to her wearing leather.

"You're taking this pretty calmly," Renee Montoya noted calmly, the private investigator and heroine known as the Question sitting nearby. Her brown hair fell into her eyes, her smile slightly more mysterious than most as she relaxed in casual jeans, a t-shirt and jacket.

"Not calmly, but... not much I can do," Zinda admitted with a shrug.

"Think you might get sent back to the past?" Renee probed as she took a careful drink. She had beaten her alcoholism, she thought, but better to not take chances.

"Dunno," Zinda shrugged again, her friends knowing she was a time traveller from World War Two. She sighed, "I'm glad to be back with the Birds of Prey now that Gail's back writing it, but she hasn't got much influence with Dido..."

"Hmm," Zatanna nodded slightly. Everyone had gotten used to the regular breaking of the fourth wall and carried on.

"What really pisses me off is that we won't see any resolution to things that are happening in our lives," Karen sighed. "Max Lord won't ever get what's coming to him, we'll never see how Batman's new plan to put Batmen around the world will work, Wonder Woman will never get a consistent history..." she added. Not to mention her attempt to have a real secret identity, though she had some doubts that would work out too. 

"Did I ever?" Wonder Woman asked with as sigh as she arrived to the party fashionably late. Not that she'd see it that way, since she usually was off fighting monsters and such, but she was nearly always late for these things.

Everyone looked at her in shock, justifiably so. Her regular outfit had been replaced by blue pants with white stars, a red corset-like garment and a leather jacket tossed over it, presumably to help her keep what was left of her dignity. The costume was edged in silver, and she wore a choker with a stylized 'w' on it.

"Diana, what the hell...?" Black Canary blurted out, even though she had worn worse over the years. Her 'Justice League International' costume still embarassed her.

"Don't ask," Princess Diana growled, waving to get a waitress to deliver a fresh mug. Though at this point, she'd happily take someone else's drink.

"Welcome to the Locket," the maid clad woman smiled as she put a fresh beer mug down. She looked curiously at Zinda, "Should I bring another pitcher?"

"Please," Zinda grinned as Diana got settled.

Zatanna gave Diana a professional look and nodded to herself grimly. Speaking quietly to Black Canary she noted, "It looks like some kind of localized reboot, I think. Thank goodness her memory still seems to be intact."

"Damn hack writers," Diana muttered as she poured herself a beer. "Not only did they give me a horrid costume and took away Paradise Island," she complained bitterly as she took a long drink, "Straczynski then bailed to go do his Superman and Batman graphic novels! Damn it, why couldn't I have just kept Gail Simone writing?"

Black Canary patted her comfortingly on the shoulder as she said, "Sorry, but there's only so much Gail to go around." She paused as she added thoughtfully, "Besides, I thought you didn't like how she made you date Nemesis?"

"Trust me, dating that stiff is far better than what I'm dealing with now," Diana said ruefully, shaking her head. "Besides, at least Gail dealt with all the lesbian subtext going on on the island," she added with a faint smile.

"Drink up, you'll feel better," Zinda suggested, and everyone drank up before the staff delivered yet another pitcher of beer.

"So, is it gonna be a complete reboot, or a patchwork? Because there is no way I want to go through that again," Karen muttered.

"Dunno," Zatanna admitted, "but the signs look like a patchwork. There's been too many major events recently for a reboot to paper over."

"Oh god, I need more beer," Karen moaned, thumping her head down on the table.

"So, in a few months we might be gone, rewritten or be completely different characters?" Black Canary said, shaking her head. "That's almost as bad as when I moved from Earth Two to Earth One then got retconned as my own daughter."

"Say what?" Wonder Woman blinked.

"Don't worry about it," Black Canary took a drink, "it all got overwritten anyway. But it's a great example of how messed up this could get."

"Geh," Renee shuddered visibly at the thought. "Just think, in a few months we may not be who we are now..."

"Makes you wanna go out and do things you wouldn't normally do," Zinda agreed. She looked over at Black Canary, "Dinah, there's something I've wanted to do a long time."

"Huh?" Black Canary looked at her in surprise then made a choking sound as Zinda kissed her on the lips. There was a long beat of dead silence as she was bent backwards by the force of the smooch, her arms wrapping around Zinda.

"Wow," Zatanna blinked, impressed.

"I didn't know you swung this way," Black Canary gasped.

"Hey, I overhear all those make-out sessions you have with Babs," Zinda noted with a smile, "it goes you ideas."

"So the rumors are true?" Karen teased.

Black Canary blushed furiously, "No comment."

Renee took another drink, as if hoping for added courage. "Diana," she said to the Amazon princess, "do you remember when we met in Nanda Parbat?"

Diana actually looked amused as she answered, "Yes, I remember it quite fondly. You were trying to pick me up..."

Renee blushed cutely. "I wasn't that obvious, was I?" she asked plaintively.

Diana laughed softly as she reassured her, "No, you were pretty subtle about it, really." She took a drink as she added thoughtfully, "It was kind of cute, really."

"Thanks," Renee said. She took a nervous breath and asked, "Would you like to go out to dinner with me?"

Diana smiled warmly, "I'd love to."

"Really?" Renee blinked.

"I've read Sappho, Renee," Diana smiled as she added, "and I grew up on a island surrounded by women. Trust me, I have no problem with the idea."

The others at the table watched with some amusement as the two hurried off, soon disappearing into the crowded bar. "That was cute," Karen decided, chuckling softly.

"Very," Zatanna agreed, sighing softly as she remembered a fling with Madam Xanadu, years back. Her ex John Constantine had always wondered where she had learned about tantric sex magic, and she never had the heart to tell him...

Black Canary shook her head, her makeup still mussed from the kiss from Zinda. "Well, if no one minds I'm going home," she decided.

Zinda gave her a arch look, "I don't suppose I couldn't talk you into sticking around?"

Black Canary blushed but firmly told her, "I don't fool around outside of my relationship. Sorry!"

"Do you think she means Ollie or Babs?" Karen smirked.

"I'd bet on Babs," Zinda said just a bit regretfully. She tossed back the last of her beer, "Well, I'm off to do something dangerous and possibly illegal, wanna tag along?"

"Bar room brawl?" Zatanna asked, well aware of Zinda's usual habits. When the blond nodded Zatanna got up, making her top hat appear from nowhere then putting it on. "What the hell," she decided, "you only live once."

As the others dispersed Karen went up to the bar, her alien metabolism pretty much having killed off the effects of the beer already. "Hey," she called out to the cyan haired bartender, "what's the strongest thing you got?"

Ryouko, space pirate and head bartender of Arisugawa's Locket, gave Power Girl a thoughtful look. "Kryptonian?" she asked thoughtfully.

"Something like that," Karen conceded.

"Just a minute," Ryouko turned, getting a heavy metal container out and pouring... something into a clay mug.

It smelled of apples, sort of, with a peaty undertone. The fumes made even Karen's eyes water, yet it also triggered her taste buds, her mouth watering slightly. "What is it?" she had to ask.

"Scumble," Ryouko said flatly, "we import some from the Mended Drum."

"What's in it?" Karen asked curiously, wondering if she'd found something that might be toxic even to her.

"Apples," Ryouko answered, "or at least it starts with them." She looked at the cup dubiously, "We don't normally sell it without getting Next Of Kin information, but I figure you'll live."

Karen shrugged, "What the hell." She downed it in one long gulp, then put the cup down with a heavy thump.

"Wow," the dark purple haired woman nearby murmured.

Ryouko studied Karen a moment as she said, "Wait for it..." Without another word Karen keeled right over, several customers catching her before she hit the floor or any of the tables.

"Guess we'll need to dump her on a couch until she comes to," May noted, the maid dressed waitress taking charge. Just another night at the bar...

End

Notes: Yes, this is set in Arisugawa;s Locket, my crossover bar for ladies who like ladies. All of these characters have had bi-curious moments, so I don't think it's horribly OOC.

Why did Scumble drop Karen? It's imported from the Discworld and is probably semi-magic.


	2. Chapter 2

The two dreaded Rs: Retcon and Reboot

Two

Like a stone in a pond making waves the rumors spread, touching on each hero and group in different ways. Of course, it got worse once someone broke the fourth wall and got ahold of a complete set of solicitations for September's reboot.

"We aren't even getting a series?" Courtney Whitmore yelped, the petite blonde waving her arms angrily. Thankfully the heroine Stargirl didn't have her cosmic rod activated, or she'd probably be blasting holes in the walls of the Justice Society headquarters.

"This sucks," Wildcat agreed, his hood down to reveal the grizzled face of Ted Grant. "What, they don't need old-timers anymore?"

"It appears so," Kent Nelson sounded annoyed as he laid the papers he had conjured up as Dr. Fate. "Our creators seem to have decided that we're not 'young and hip' enough for their new universe."

"We'll probably still be around in the background," Cyclone patted Courtney on the shoulder. The redhead felt the odd urge to jump Courtney's bones, but Maxine was genre savvy enough to realize it was because she was in a Shanejayell fanfic and ignored the urge.

"At least you'll still be around," Ted nodded to Alan Scott and Jay Garrick, the first Green Lantern and Flash.

"It's not our fault we're tied to popular legacies," Jay said, wearing his usual red shirt and lightning bolt. The brown haired man frowned, "I'm not looking forward to seeing how we end up being retconned in this."

"Tell me about it," Alan agreed, the muscular blond haired man nodding grimly. He was almost sure he'd end up a grim and gritty anti-hero, especially considering some of the ugly costumes the new kids were wearing.

Meanwhile, the Justice League of America was in shock as they tried to digest that the epic storylines planned with them were over. "So I guess James Robinson lied when he said he'd make us famous again?" Congorilla complained, the golden gorilla drinking from a stein of beer.

Starman looked amused as the alien named Mikaal Tomas noted, "Well, I really wasn't expecting it to happen anyway." He looked around the Hall of the Justice League, "Wonder when they'll expect us to clear out our stuff?"

"You're taking this awfully calmly," Supergirl noted, the blond haired young woman pouting slightly. She had just found out her history was being changed yet again, and she was more than a bit upset about it.

"I spent years in comic book limbo until I got revived in Starman," Mikaal shrugged slightly, "you tend to take a long view of things."

"I see," Saint Walker noted, the Blue Lantern still adapting to being around these strange humans. The white skinned alien tilted his head to the side, "Where is Donna Troy?"

"She and Doctor Light gave into the lesbo rays and took off," Supergirl looked amused, "last time I checked their were happy moans coming from Troy's room."

"Troy and Light?" Congorilla blinked, "That's a total crack pairing?"

"I think Shanejayell's been reading too many of Shadow Crystal Mage's stories," Starman suggested thoughtfully.

"I figure we're all right as long as this doesn't become a full fledged crossover with Takamachi Nanoha of 2814," the Atom noted.

Somewhere in Japan, ordinary Japanese schoolgirl Nanoha Takamachi sneezed suddenly. "Excuse me," she said sheepishly.

Everyone was slightly startled to see the Atom, no one having noticed Ray Palmer because he was so small and unnoticeable. "Hey!" Atom protested that description.

Sorry.

"Well, maybe this reboot will erase Identity Crisis," Saint Walker suggested hopefully.

"Yeah, maybe something good will come of all this," Congorilla nodded.

Out in deep space, the Green Lantern Corps and their allies remain largely unchanged because they are the special pets of head writer Geoff Johns. We'll just leave then in space, being all smug.

"That's not fair!" Kyle Rayner yelped. "Not only am I gonna get shuffled into a new series with the Rainbow Lanterns, but I'm not even going to be in a book with my girlfriend." the young Green Lantern sighed.

"Yeah," Guy Guardner said thoughtfully. "Well, maybe they'll finally streamline my history and get the goofy crap out."

"Like how you got brain damaged and switched between asshole Guy and nice Guy?" Kilwog noted, the heavily muscled alien hanging with his friends.

"That and the who half alien thing," Guy agreed. He grimaced, "Hell, my buddy Beau just tossed that in as a joke, but DC decided to run with it..." Everyone ignored that fourth wall breaking and kept drinking at Guy's bar on Oa.

"Is it me or are half the Guardians over there getting tanked?" Soranik Natu asked disbelievingly, the black haired, red skinned Korugarite sitting by her boyfriend Kyle.

"They don't handle multiversal rewrites very well," Kilwog noted mildly. He shook his head, "Plus, things didn't turn out so well with the last rewrite. Most of 'em got killed in the Crisis, they left the planet then Parallax killed the rest of them."

"Here's somethin' I wondered," Guy noted, "I thought when Kyle used the Ion power to revive the Guardians that they would be young and have a second chance and all that. So why did they turn right back into the old bastards?"

"Blame it on Geoff Jones," Kyle sighed, everyone nodding glumly.

"Hey, where did Arisa go?" Soranik wondered innocently.

"Last time I checked she agreed to go to Boodikka's room," Kilwog supplied. "Apparently Arisa found out Boodikka was full of useful devices, and wanted to check it out."

"Oh no, not a Nextwave reference," Guy winced, "they're worse than memes."

Just then SPACE JESUS.. uhm, I mean Hal Jordan returned in a flash of green. "Am I detecting sarcasm?" Hal addressed the Author, but was ignored. Sighing he said to the others, "What I miss?"

"Boodikka's ravaging your ex-girlfriend," Kyle noted dryly.

"Carol Ferris?" Hal asked.

"No." Kilwog noted.

"Cowgirl?" Hal scratched his head.

"No." Soranik scowled at him.

"Lady Blackhawk and Huntress?" Hal suggested optimistically.

"No, and I thought that was just a rumor." Kyle growled.

"Power Girl?"

"Hal, you are a man-slut," Guy said disgustedly as he chugged his beer.

Half-way across the universe, the Teen Titans were in their Tower in San Francisco, looking with horror at the art promoting their new series. The art was bad enough, but only a few characters were shown in the group shot.

"Where the hell am I?" Ravager yelled, the white haired woman glaring down at the pic. Her orabge and blue costume clung to her body, and she looked especially attractive angry. "Thanks, author," she added, "nice description."

No problem.

Ignoring that Solstice looked pained as the gold clad young woman noted, "I suppose it was too much to hope for that I'd last. I'm just a new character after all."

"I have been in every incarnation of the Titans," Raven rumbled grimly, the cloaked woman looking annoyed, "but I am not there." She paused then the black haired woman added thoughtfully, "To be honest, I could use the break."

"That's a good attitude," Red Robin encouraged her, the red and black clad young man standing nearby.

"Tim, stop looking on the bright side," Wonder Girl said flatly. She gestured at the pic, "Look at that costume! And why is my lasso covered in red lightning? Are they making me into a Sith?"

"That'd be kinda cool, actually," Beast Boy noted mildly, the green skinned boy sitting nearby. Much like Raven he'd been in teams almost constantly, and was kinda looking forward to a rest.

"Shut up, Gar," Wonder Girl said grimly. She pointed at the picture again as Cassie added, "And what's up with the skintight red suit and hoodie?"

"Sex appeal?" Solstice suggested, then blinked. The brown haired girl added, "Where did that come from?"

"Shanejayell fic. You'll get used to it," Red Robin said. Secretly, he kind of liked his upcoming redesign... at least he'd no longer have to wear a leather cowl anymore.

"That may be the busiest outfit I've ever worn," Kid Flash noted, looking at the lightning adorned mess in red and gold.

"And why does Superboy have a kick-me sign on his back?" Beast Boy asked, looking amused.

"Not to mention whoever that black shadow girl and spider-thing girl are," Ravager said crossly. Her eyes narrowed, "I'd better not get turned into one of those two, or somebody's gonna die." 

Everyone edged away from her a bit. They knew she had a temper, and no one was taking any chances. "Has Conner actually seen this pic?" Red Robin had to ask.

"He yelled something about refusing to become a emo pretty boy and flew off to Smallville," Raven noted mildly, a faint smile on her face.

"Damn it, if we're gonna get rebooted I'm gonna get laid," Ravager suddenly declared, grabbing Red Robin by the cape and dragging him off.

"Hey!" Red Robin protested, but not too strongly.

"I think I shall seek out Starfire and explore my bisexual inclinations," Raven decided once they had left, poofing out in a burst of smoke.

"Damn I wish I could film that," Beast Boy muttered. He looked hopefully at Solstice and Wonder Girl, "I don't suppose you would be interested...?"

"Hell no," Wonder Girl shot him down. She looked over at Soltice, "You know, I've felt a certain connection since we first met..."

"Me too," Soltice agreed, taking her hand as the two walked off.

"Just my luck," Beast Boy sighed. Shifting his form into a green bird he flew off, muttering, "Maybe I'll check and see if the new Aqua-girl is single..." 

End?

Notes: More reactions to the planned 'big reboot' at DC. The current Justice League was built up by DC over the past year as being a 'ongoing' thing, but I guess not. I also wanted to show the Teen Titans reacting to the reboot and the 90's style art on their new book.


	3. Chapter 3

The two dreaded Rs: Retcon and Reboot

Three

"Chief, you have GOT to be kidding," Black Canary groaned, looking at the leaked cover picture in horrified disbelief. The blond dressed in fishnet stockings and leather jacket was with the other Birds of Prey in their headquarters to get the bad news.

"I'm not even in it," Huntress sighed, the black haired woman shaking her head.

Oracle was looking like the picture was a dead snake. "Well, Katana I can sort of see," she said reluctantly, "but Poison Ivy? And is that Rose and Thorn?"

"Are you sure that's Katana?" Misfit asked as the redheaded girl added, "I really can't see her dressed in something that ugly."

"It's like someone who only knew cliches about Japan designed it," Dinah noted, the heroine known as Black Canary sitting down with a sigh.

On another earth Jim Lee sneezed, and had no idea why.

"At least they're getting you out of that wheelchair," Huntress noted to Oracle.

Barbara Gordon sighed. "Do the writers not get that I could get out of this wheelchair anytime I wanted?" she complained. "I'm a example to disabled people everywhere!"

"I think it's a editorial call," Misfit shrugged, Charlie taking off her mask with a sigh.

"Dan Didio," Barbara nodded bleakly, "remind me to hack the system and turn his heat and water off, one of these days."

"He lives on Earth Prime," Huntress said tentatively, Helena shedding her mask too.

"So?" Barbara said darkly.

No one decided to argue the point. "Okay," Dinah changed the subject, "according to the leaks superheroes have only been around five years. How the hell did Batman have so many Robins?"

"Kinky," Misfit snickered.

"I didn't mean it THAT way," Dinah flushed.

Helena chuckled softly. "I guess Steph is getting the shaft," she noted, "she wasn't a Robin long anyway. And Tim Drake was apparently a Robin then retired."

"And how did the spawn of Satan, Damien Wayne, get born anyway?" Dove asked, the white haired woman just hanging out with the group until her own reboot.

"Damn if I know," Barbara shrugged, "Bruce must have shagged Talia before he became Batman, I guess." She hesitated as she looked at Dove, "Uhm, have you seen the previews of the new Hawk and Dove series yet?"

"No," Dove admitted innocently.

"It's bad," Dinah patted her on the shoulder.

Dove's eyes widened, "How bad?"

"Extremely bad," Barbara handed the papers over.

"LEFIELD?" Dove wailed, gazing at the art in utter horror.

"Hey, I though he helped create the modern version of you," Helena noted, displaying knowledge she shouldn't have due to fourth wall leakage. "Nice excuse, author," Helena noted.

Thank you.

Dove ignored the byplay as she sighed, "Having Lefield back is like gazing at embarrassing baby photos. Ugh."

"Uhm, you might want to read it," Dinah noted, having flipped through it before.

Dove sighed and flipped through the pages. "They're revising our origins AGAIN," she muttered, "I'm still dating Deadman even though he's a ghost..." She trailed off, blinking. "Are they hinting I shagged DON HALL?" she yelped, "It'd be like sleeping with my brother!"

Misfit smirked, "Kinky."

Everyone ignored that. "Where's Hawk?" Dove asked, dreading the more violent man's reaction.

"He already saw the preview," Barbara noted, "he said he's going out, getting drunk and then hitting someone."

"In other words, typical Hawk," Helena grinned.

After that Dove took off to try to keep her partner from doing too much damage, and Misfit volunteered to 'help.' More likely the young woman would just increase the damage, but eh.

"You know,' Helena noted, "I sometimes hear things at night when I stay over here."

Both Barbara and Dinah blushed. "Sorry," Barbara said a bit sheepishly, "I put in sound damping tiles in the walls too..."

"No need to apologize," Helena said, smiling. "Uhm, I've always wanted to try...," she trailed off, blushing too.

"Well, well," Dinah grinned as she looked at Barbara, "why not? We're all going to end up being rebooted anyway..."

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

The Supers and the Bats were having a mutual sympathy meet up, as well as getting tanked. Alfred had disapprovingly started pouring them wine, quickly decided that wasn't going to do it and brought out a keg of beer.

"Alfred, you're a wonder," Bruce Wayne sighed as he drank his beer.

"Why can't I have any?" Damien Wayne complained as he drank his soda.

"You're either seven years old," Stephanie Brown aka Batgirl noted, "or maybe fourteen, with the artificial aging. Either way you're under aged."

"Why am I allowed to drink?" Connor Kent whispered, the cloned Superboy in his typical 's' shield t-shirt and blue jeans.

"Don't say that too loud," Tim Drake, aka Red Robin noted with a smile as he sat by his buddy. He was drinking wine, more because he didn't like beer much.

"God this reboot is going to be horrid," Superman sighed as he drank some beer. It didn't really do anything to Clark, but it made him feel a bit better.

Bruce leaned forward as he asked, "What have you heard?"

"Well, Grant Morrison is writing," Superman noted, "so my parents will be dead. Again."

"Ouch," Steph winced slightly.

"I'm going to be young and rebellious to start with," Clark added glumly, "and they're breaking me up with Lois too. AND they're putting me in some kind of Kryptonian armor too."

Supergirl shook her head in disgust. "How does that make any sense?" she asked plaintively.

A bit smugly Bruce noted, "My canon stays pretty much the same."

"Except being mushed into five years or so," Jason Todd noted. The anti-hero Red Hood was welcomed to the meeting reluctantly, but everyone agreed that since all of them will get rebooted anyway it didn't real matter.

"How the heck will all the Robins fit?" Krypto barked. Somehow the dog made himself understood, much like Lassie.

"Damn if I know," Bruce admitted, taking a drink. "I mean, my first year was solo, everyone agrees. So I had Dick on my second year..."

Supergirl giggled.

Bruce ignored that. "He grew up and left somehow, then Jason joined up, he was killed by Joker, then I went solo, then got Tim, Steph, Tim AGAIN then Damien..."

"And that's all going to make sense spread out over four years?" Damien asked, spiking his soda with something from a hip flask.

"I heard someone describing us as interns," Dick Grayson noted flatly, Nightwing back in his extremely clingy uniform.

"Which makes no sense," Bruce sighed. He looked at his former partner and added, "Sorry about you losing the Batman identity. Wasn't my idea."

"Eh, could be worse," Dick shrugged slightly as he said, "they could be shoving me back into the robin costume again."

Steph and Supergirl both looked very amused by that idea. "I'm sure you'd fill out the manties very well," Steph noted with a grin.

"Oh yeah," Supergirl agreed.

"Would you please not leer at Richard, please?" Superman sighed.

"Hey," Superboy noted, frowning, "this is a Shanejayell fic. Shouldn't you suddenly be lesbians or something?"

Tellingly both young women blushed. Tim Drake blinked, "You mean you already..."

"Why do you think I take all those trips to Gotham?" Supergirl asked, shrugging.

"I'm impressed," Jason noted, slugging back some more beer. "So how badly are they messing you up in the reboot?" he asked.

Supergirl made a face. "They're rolling all my character development back and making me just arrived on Earth," she said bitterly, drinking some beer.

"Well, that might not be too bad," Superboy said comfortingly.

Supergirl snorted. "Apparently Dan Didio wants me to be a dumb blond again," she sighed weakly.

Everyone growled at that. "I hope Babs goes through with shutting down his power," Superman growled under his breath.

"I thought you were a Boy Scout about things like this," Bruce looked at him in surprise.

"He's messing with me, my cousin and my half clone," Superman said dryly, "I think I'm allowed to be annoyed with him."

"Point," Bruce agreed, drinking more beer.

End?

Notes: As the reboot is pretty much upon us at this point, I doubt I'll do any more of these. I may edit later, as JSA is coming back on it's own Earth-2 and other changes. We'll see what happens.


	4. Saturday Night at the Limbo Lounge

Saturday Night at the Limbo Lounge

After the whole 'Nu52' reboot, Donna Troy didn't expect to be around, but was still mildly surprised to end up in Comic Book Limbo. It was a odd kind of place, a mist covered land with no firm landscape, only a battered looking town where all the no longer in continuity characters lived. It was a kind of sad place too, with many of the characters resigned to the fact they would never appear in comics again.

Still, you had to find ways to keep yourself busy, and not long after she arrived Donna had stumbled over 'The Limbo Lounge.' A bar set up by a previous inhabitant of Limbo it was abandoned, but with a bit of work it was soon repaired. Donna ran the place, the booze somehow always flowing, and she brought in friends and refugees from the reboot as staff.

Steph Brown, formerly Spoiler and Batgirl, waited tables like a pro. Well, a violent pro, admittedly. "Hands OFF the butt, golden ager," she growled at the Tarantula, slapping his hand off. "Or you'll lose it."

"Sorry," the blond haired John Law smiled sheepishly as he added, "I'm still getting used to being young again."

"Yeah, yeah," Steph sauntered off.

Donna shook her head wryly even as she poured a drink for the odd redhead who kept turning up. "So, Jean Grey right?" she remembered.

"Yeah," Jean agreed as she drank her beer. "I'm not technically supposed to be here, but..." she shrugged slightly.

"So, how many times have you died and been brought back?" a character tried to pick her up, only to be met with a icy glare.

Jean looked back at Donna and smiled, "So, tell me all about it..."

Meanwhile, Linda Danvers waited tables in another section of the bar. The brown haired young woman didn't get into her convoluted 'earth angel/protomatter Supergirl' background much, though she did manifest the fiery angel wings if people got too rowdy.

With the return of the alien Supergirl she was pretty sure she was stuck in comic book limbo for good, or at least until a big enough reboot happened to bring her back. Still, she was in good company, and her girlfriend was stuck her in Limbo too, which helped.

"Two Buffalo Burgers and brown ales," Linda dropped them off. "Hey," she blinked, "wasn't Blue Devil just here?"

"They rebooted him and Black Lightning," the Gay Ghost noted with a sigh.

"Seriously? Blue Devil?" the Black Pirate shook his head ruefully.

"Well, he did have a good writer when he lead Shadowpact," Linda shrugged.

"Still," Gay Ghost shook his head, unaware of the irony as he muttered, "Blue Devil..."

At a nearby table, Wally West was sharing dinner with his wife and kids. "I dunno," Linda mused, "I think I'd rather have us stay in Limbo."

"MOM!" Jai complained, the boy looking annoyed.

Wally raised his own eyebrows at that, "What do you mean?"

"Just look at poor Barry's new costume," Linda noted, "not to mention the one they stuck poor Bart in. They're awful."

"She's got a point," young Iris conceded after a moment.

"Can't be worse than your Impulse costume," Jai teased.

Iris just stuck her tongue out at him.

"Wench! Bring us much mead!" a random barbarian yelled.

Rene Montoya calmly got up and stalked towards the table. "Do NOT disrespect the ladies," she ordered him flatly.

The big man flinched, remembering the last beating the barbarian had gotten, then replied much more meekly, "Yes, ma'am." He glumly returned to his beer, longing for the days a barbarian could pillage, loot and wench with impunity.

"Thanks," Steph smiled at her warmly as she dropped off a soda at her table. She hesitated, "Pardon my asking, but weren't you in a Batwoman issue after the reboot?"

"Just a mention," Renee shrugged awkwardly, "so yeah, looks like that's not enough to get me out of here." She took a drink, "I'm more worried about Maggie Sawyer being in the series with Kate..."

"Yeah, some writers just can't help pairing unattached lesbians," Steph agreed, neither one pointedly noting they were in a Shanejaytell fic, where said author was known for doing that.

Just for that, the scene shifted to the break room, where several NPCs were playing videogames.

"Hey, I am NOT a NPC!" Jim Rook aka Nightmaster complained indignantly.

"Last time you appeared was in Shadowpact, and you dumped the team to go to magic land," his buddy Ragman noted dryly.

Jim shrugged awkwardly, "Seemed like a good idea at the time."

Linda Danvers staggered in, looking tiredly at the game they were playing. "Is that that Injustice, Gods Among Us game?" she asked. "I thought you said it was terrible."

"Oh, it is," Jim agreed willingly, "but it's a fascinating kind of terrible. A bit like watching a car crash, really."

Linda rolled her eyes, "Can you explain that?"

"Yeah, I'll try," Ragman sighed, "You know how in fighting games you can have any character fight any other character?"

"Right," Linda agreed.

Jim snickered, "So they did the same thing in Injustice. Even if it makes no sense."

"Look at this," Ragman laughed as they had Flash fighting against the Joker.

"Oh you have got to be kidding," Linda groaned as the Flash actually had trouble fighting against the Joker. I mean, Linda had only a basic understanding od his powers, but even she could see all Flash should have to do was just disarm Joker at super speed.

"It gets worse," Jim grinned, bringing up another battle.

"Batman vs Wonder Woman?' Linda blinked, "And she's using a sword?" She burst into giggles, "Oh come on... she should be cutting him in HALF!"

"Oh, come on, he is the Bat God," Ragman said sarcastically. "I think Green Lantern is worse though. He doesn't even get to use ring constructs in this game!"

"Hey! He got to make a wall!" Jim protested.

"There is that," Ragman agreed.

"I can never tell if you two are joking or not," Linda sighed.

"I think that's not the worst though," Jim noted as he ran through the options.

"Is that Superman versus.. Green Arrow?" Linda yelped.

"And he'a actually having trouble fighting Ollie," Ragman said, shaking his head. "I really think they didn't think this through well."

"You're not kidding," Linda groaned. "This fight should be over in a moment... with a heat vision shot to burn the bow, then one in the quiver for good measure."

"You and I know that," Jim agreed, "tell the videogame developers."

Meanwhile, out in the bar Renee was finishing off her soda and wondering what she wanted to do later. There wasn't much nightlife in Limbo, but...

The doors slammed open and a familiar figure stalked in, dressed in purple, white and black. "Huntress?!" Renee blurted.

Unmasking as she walked Huntress stalked towards Renee's table, Helena Bertinelli looking truly pissed. "The Nu52 Huntress isn't even me!" she growled as she flopped down beside Renee on the padded bench, then promptly burst into tears.

Renee froze a moment, then put a arm around Helena. "There, there," she patted her on the shoulder gently.

"And apparently I've been dead all along," Helena sniffed, "they're using that to explain how I've always been the Earth 2 Huntress."

"That doesn't even make sense," Renee muttered, knowing how badly that would screw with their team ups, back in the day.

"Damn right," Helena growled. "Bastards."

"Let's get you a drink," Renee decided, even as she mentally waved goodbye to her earlier plans for the evening.

To be continued...?

Notes: Inspired by a facebook conversation where I saw a fanart of Jean & Donna offering to fight evil together. ANYWAY... this version of Comic Book Limbo is more or less based on the one Grant Morrison used in Animal Man, but less depressing.

Basically this was a excuse for me to bitch about how bad Injustice: Gods Among Us looks. I may or may not riff on this idea again, if it amuses me.


End file.
